How to Close or Memorialize Facebook Account When a Person Dies

Facebook provides option of memorializing / freezing account of a user who is no more. A friend or a relative of the deceased person can approach Facebook for this.

What happens to his Facebook account when a person dies? Several people wonder about this question.

More than a billion people are using Facebook and a lot of them are so much into social networking that Facebook virtually has become their second home. People have emotional attachment to their Facebook account, profile, their Facebook friends and followers.

In such a scenario, if the Facebook account holder dies, it might turned out to be emotionally or practically important to close his Facebook account. Recognizing this, Facebook does provide options to deal with such a situation. A friend or a relative of the deceased person can get the Facebook account memorialized.

What are the Features of a Memorialized Facebook Account?

When a person passes away, Facebook can memorialize their account to protect their privacy. Here are some of the key features of memorialized accounts:

Depending on the privacy settings of the deceased person’s account, friends can share memories on the memorialized timeline

Anyone can send private messages to the deceased person

Content shared by the deceased person (ex: photos, posts) remains on Facebook and is visible to the audience it was shared with

Memorialized timelines don’t appear in People You May Know and other suggestions

How to tell Facebook that a person is no more?

Facebook has provided an online form to report that a Facebook account holder is now deceased. It’s a small, easy to fill form which asks you to provide name of the deceased person, URL of the timeline, your name, your relationship with the deceased, your email and most importantly, a proof of death. Proof of death could be a link to a webpage where an obituary or relevant news article has been published.

Unmemorialize a Facebook Account that has been Wrongly memorialized

There could be instances that someone plays a nasty trick and mislead Facebook into memorializing an account whose owner is still alive! Facebook can unmemorialize such an account if the account holder can prove his/her identity.

To reactivate a memorialized account, the victim of foul play can fill this form and get their account back.

Can I Get a Backup of Content of an Account Whose Owner has Died?

Yes, you can. But it’s not a straightforward process. You can not simply download such Facebook data. You’ll have to get a court order and prove to Facebook that you are representative of the deceased person. It’s a lengthy process.

Last updated: 22 October 2016 | Published on: 13 June 2013 | Authored and Edited by:Lalit Kumar and Team | Filed as: Home » Social Media » Facebook » How to Close or Memorialize Facebook Account When a Person Dies

Lalit Kumar is the Principal Author and Founder of TechWelkin. He is a web explorer and he enjoys finding useful information on the Internet. He loves to put things together to create a bigger solution. Lalit is passionate about technology, languages and literature. You can contact Lalit via email (techwelkin [at] gmail [dot] com) or Facebook (facebook.com/techwelkin).